Single mom of 4 who went to nursing school while working named KSN’s 2023 Remarkable Woman
5 March 2024
SALINA, Kan. (KSNW) – Heidi Feyerherm-Smith took her 6-year-old daughter Chloe’s cancer experience and created a nonprofit that reaches beyond the United States.
Heidi says her daughter was a silly girl with a special gift for connecting. In October 2006, something about her made the family pause.
“My sister had come to visit, and she’s like, I think Chloe’s smile’s crooked?” she recalled.
Heidi thought it could be Bell’s Palsy, and Chloe got put on a steroid. A few weeks later, things escalated.
“We went back to the doctor, and they did an MRI, and they called me within about 20 minutes,” she said. “We were told we had to go straight to Children’s Mercy and that it was something that was not going to be operable.”
The scan found a rare brain tumor.
“She had a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, DIPG for short,” Heidi said. “The survival of DIPG is less than 1%. So kids just don’t make it through this kind of, type of tumors.”
For months, Chloe went through unsuccessful treatments. Throughout, she had one major wish.
“I just want to be with my friends. I just, I just want to go to school. You know, being in a hospital, and you know, being away from everyone was just really hard. So, we came back,” Heidi said.
Her granted wish lasted two weeks before her death in October 2007.
“I didn’t want to just go back to what I was doing. You know, I wanted to make a difference,” Heidi added.
She says Chloe’s love of school and monkeys sparked an idea.
“It just popped in my head one day, and I was like, there’s a monkey in my chair,” Heidi said
She launched the Love, Chloe Foundation on what would’ve been Chloe’s eighth birthday. The nonprofit’s main program is called Monkey in My Chair. It gives kids battling cancer a giant stuffed monkey to stay in class and a smaller one to stay with them.
“I wanted it to encourage more communication between the classmates and their friends,” Heidi said.
Heidi wrote a book to go along with the kits explaining the changes cancer can bring.
“Sometimes, I may take medicine that makes me look a little different. Just remember, no matter what you see, I’m still me,” she read.
The nonprofit sends over 800 Monkey in My Chair kits across the United States and other countries every year. Heidi connects with Kansas families they support in person.
“They appreciate that so much being able to have another parent that they know understands what’s going on,” she said.
An idea that started in honor of Chloe has grown to mean something bigger.
“These kids are tough, they’re resilient, and they just, they go through some of the hardest things that anyone has to go through,” Heidi added. “Being able to shine a light on these kids and show how tough they are and how strong their families are is important.”
The nonprofit has expanded to provide gas cards to Kansas families who are traveling to and from childhood cancer treatments. They also offer Warrior Wagons.